On the Other Side
by corneroffandom
Summary: Missing scene from "Connections". How Cyrus found out Grady's fate.


It was requested I explain what led to Cyrus' declaration about Grady being dead in Connections-- so I'm writing a scene from Cyrus' view point to explain it. I hope this fits people's expectations even a little.

He's almost not surprised when a large form stops him a few blocks away from Company. Life had been good for almost too long, Foleys didn't have that kind of luck for long, after all. The pain that follows is something familiar as he's attacked thoroughly, with various weapons, including a thin knife that leaves slashes along his arms and upper body. His head swims as the voices of his attackers (There's two of them, he can just barely see their shadows dancing around the alley they've dragged him to through the blood dripping into his eyes.) taunt him, promising him he'll never see his family or loved ones again. The family thing is a bit of a laugh-- his mother and Coop are dead, Grady is missing, he has no idea who his real father is, and half the time he thinks the Coopers would gladly pay his way out of town just to keep him away from Buzz. Buzz and Mel are his chief defenders and they're more than he's used to having-- sticking by him through thick and thin-- but even so, it's hard to focus on that through the fog in his brain as the beatings continue and he thinks they've either broken one of his ribs or severely bruised it as punch after punch is rained down on any inch of him they can reach.

"Who are you?" he finally wheezes, figuring it wouldn't hurt to ask. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see where this is going, especially as one of the men pull out a pistol that somehow glints even in the gloom of the alley.

"Associates of Alexandro Perez," the man hisses, lifting the gun towards Cyrus' chest. In the split second of silence before the gun goes off and pain engulfs everything, Cyrus puts it together, remembers seeing the name on the papers he signed to put top members of the Chicago syndicate away for a long, long time, in return for freedom.

His eyes slip closed, encouraged by the ebb and flow of agony rocketing through his chest. _Don't blame yourself, Mel..._

---------

Voices and cacophony take over the silence of unconsciousness as he's slowly pulled back to the surface. To his amazement, there is no pain. There is nothing.

His fists clench but that even seems dulled, inconsequential.

"Fancy meeting you here, Cy," a startling familiar voice greets him and his head jerks up and over, as he comes eye to eye with someone he's not seen in ages.

"Grady!" he exclaims, accent surprisingly thick as he jumps to his feet and wraps his arms around his younger brother, before pulling back and shaking him roughly. "Where the hell have you been?!"

Grady looks away stubbornly for a long moment. When Cyrus' gaze follows, his jaw drops. He's looking at a blood soaked version of himself, doctors and nurses working dilligently around him as a heart monitor flatlines impatiently. "You're dyin'," his little brother offers unhelpfully.

"I see _that,_" Cyrus hisses, scraping a hand through his short hair. "How, what happened?"

"You tried to be something you weren't," Grady says. At his older brother's uncomprehending stare, he explains further, "A good guy. Guys like you and I, we can't be good guys. It never works out. We can try but either past things will catch up with us or... the temptation is too great."

Cyrus shakes his head, not even bothering to dwell on Grady's infuriatingly bitter viewpoint on life. A more important thought had just come to him. "So if I'm dead, and you're here then..."

"Took ya long enough," Grady says with a smirk. "I've been here for about a year now."

"So when you disappeared..." he swallows painfully. "You didn't just run off somewhere and leave Daisy hanging, you died?"

"Were killed more like it," he says roughly, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed against his chest as he eyes Cyrus.

"Who?" the older Foley asks quietly.

"Phillip Spaulding, of course. He seemed to enjoy throwing me over a cliff." Cyrus is speechless after this admission but Grady sneers as the air around them ripples. "You are popular," he says with a tinge of jealousy. "If you're going to listen to me for once, I suggest you do whatever it takes to get out of here. Trust me, it's boring as hell." With that, he's gone and Cyrus is gaping at thin air.

"Grady? Grady!"

"He's gone," a voice interjects, familiar and strong.

Cyrus blinks rapidly and turns towards it. "Coop?" He looks at his brother curiously and shakes his head. "Who knew, when we worked together, we were related?"

Coop grins, laughs a little even. "Yeah, life's odd that way. I never thought I'd say this but Grady's right. You need to go back-- Buzz needs you. You've helped him more in the last few months than you'll ever know. He never really got closure over Mom, and me, but the book really did help with that-- and realizing that you're her son... it gave him a piece of us that he'd been missing."

"He had that with Rocky, though," Cyrus says, stumbling a little over the name of the half brother he has yet to meet.

Coop shakes his head. "Maybe he would've in the future but Rocky is happy in England and has a life over there. Dad would've never broken that up for his own selfish wants or needs. You made your choice to go to Springfield and stay, despite everything that happened to you in your time there. There's also Mel to consider. Trust me, when you find a woman like her, you don't want to lose her."

Cyrus wonders briefly who the young man before him is thinking of but doesn't bother to ask, nodding quietly. "I'm just not sure what to do," he says, looking over at the heart machine still showing no rhythm.

A soft touch comes from nowhere, brushing across his cheek and down his jawline. "Just focus, darling," a hauntingly familiar voice whispers and he knows this voice, remembers it from tapes and a dream that led him ultimately to the truth-- his mother.

His eyes slip open and he gazes at his mother, lips quirking up in a smile. "You're here."

"Of course I am," she says, fingers still running against his skin as if she's scared to stop touching him. "Whenever you need me, I'm here."

"For Buzz too?" he wonders softly, feeling like a young child as he gazes into his mom's eyes for the first time upon having learnt the truth.

"For Buzz too," she confirms, her hands slipping to his shoulders. Coop comes nearer and they just hover near each other, a triangle of Bradshaws together for the first time.

"I need to be there for him too," Cyrus mutters, reluctant to leave the circle of peace, love. "And Mel."

"That's right," Jenna breathes, smiling gently at her son. "Just remember darling, we will be here waiting for you. When it's really your time, we'll all be together again."

He smiles and looks up, mouth going dry as he locks eyes with Grady, who's standing alone across the room. Grady nods stiffly at him, a pinched look on his face. He swallows and nods back, closing his eyes as pain slowly eases back into his body and the sound returns completely and overwhelmingly-- the harsh beeping of the heart machine and desperate voices of doctors and nurses as they work at finishing the surgery before he crashes again.

He only listens for a minute before fading once more.

-----------

He forces his eyes open and finds Buzz leaning over him, a relieved look on his face. His memories are scattered, a gleam of brown hair here, a small smile there, a gentle touch-- then... then... His whisper takes a lot out of his already taxed body and vocal cords but he can't stop, repeating it a time or two just to try to make it make sense. "Grady... Grady's dead."

Buzz's eyes widen at the admission and his head drops back against the pillow as the pain takes him over completely.

He never completely remembers his out of body experience but he does remember seeing Grady there, feeling Jenna's presence, hearing Coop's voice. Everything's disjointed and he thinks there's something about a cliff that his soul had tried to cling to but, like a nightmare, the reasoning behind it had faded.

It's enough to add Grady to the list of people he'd failed.

_Note: I have vague plans for a third Cyrus fic to wrap up the Chicago syndication plot, I may include more about Grady in it, finish it up completely. We'll see._


End file.
